Sugar production till November 30, increased slightly to 39.73 lakh tonne in the current sugar year, beginning October, according to industry body the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA).

The sugar output stood at 39.14 lakh tonne from October and November last year, ISMA said in a release here.

Further, ISMA said this year 415 sugar mills were crushing compared to 450 last year.

In Maharashtra, 167 sugar mills have started their crushing operations and are running in full swing and as on November 30, they have produced 18.05 lakh tonne, which is 21 per cent higher than the output during the same period last year.

In Uttar Pradesh 109 sugar mills were crushing sugarcane on November 30, and have produced 9.50 lakh tonne while 108 sugar mills were crushing in the state producing
13.11 lakh tonne.

Sugar production this year in UP is slow as crushing was delayed by a fortnight, ISMA said.

About 63 mills in Karnataka were crushing as November 30, and 7.93 lakh tonne of sugar was produced compared to 62 mills and 7.02 lakh tonne of the sweetener in the same period last year.

Crushing operations in all the other states have also begun, picking up at a slow pace.